Small survey on website

[Nikolas]

First of all, if this thread needs to be moved to the gen forum, go ahead. I just thought that it is kind of a critic subject so...

Now, I'm 28 years old, I'm a composer and I'm going to spend the rest of my life composing music. This little info about me is to show that I'm dead serious here and that I need your help.

I'm going to start a website. My full name is Nikolas Sideris, but I think that nikolasideris.com sucks, so I'm going for nikolassideris.com or nikolass.com (because all nikolas.com are taken!)

I have some questions about which is best and I need you to answer them. You can comment on anything you want (on-topic), but please also consider the questions bellow:

1. The name: nikolasideris? nikolassideris? nikolass?
Note: I'm not keen on using my real name, yet.
2. Should I have a picture of me, or not? Should it be coloured or B&W?
3. I'm going to have samples of my works in the site. Should the samples be the whole pieces, or only fragments of the works?
Fragments mean smaller files, so better chances of someone sownloading, and also avoid the danger of stealing your work. But the whole music, means better representation of your works
As a solution for No. 3 I'm thinking of having a "folder" named Samples, with fragmented pieces of my works ( about 7-8 MP3s), and another folder named News where I'll have all the news about my music and anything concerning me and also the new pieces I write whole, for a couple of weeks. After that, or if another piece comes, I'll transfer them to the samples section. Is it understantable? Is it logical? This way, the user will want to visit the News section to get a hold on the new full pieces of music. Shoud I go for this kind of form?
4. I think that a newsletter is out of the question, since I'm not yet established and I wouldn't know what to put in. Or should I have one?
5. Is it appropriate to have in the News section, news about a finished game from AGS? or it seems a bit lame? No misunderstandings here, I hope I'm not offending anyone, but I have to consider everything...
6. Should there be a Links section or not? In the Links section should I put Links to all the games I've worked (or documentaries), and even AGS or wintermute ( ) or whatever else I'm working on or not?
7. Actually what is the purpose of Links section?

Thank you. Your help will be very much appreciated...

But really remember to be mature about this as I'm really trying to do something good, professional, on which my career might depend on.

Nikolas

[Paper Carnival]

I don't know about your name, maybe you could find a nickname or something.

I suppose that your picture and looks in it will have to match your music type.

Whether you'll have samples or full songs is your choice, but if you have samples you can only show the good part to raise the expectations for your potential listener.

A good idea would be to get an account in www.purevolume.com and www.audiostreet.net and have the link of your main site there. That way people can find out about you more easily

[esper]

Well, first off, for God's sakes, DON'T call it "Nikolass.." Ã, That would be the end of your career before it ever even begins.

I think all of the visual design will come with time. You have to figure out what you want and how you want it to be yourself. YOU are an artist... Maybe not a graphic artist, but an artist nonetheless, so when it comes to presenting yourself, the way you do it should reflect your art. Being a musician, you should understand moods and atmosphere... What kind of mood or atmosphere do you want to relay?

I think you will want a picture of yourself, but as I said, the style must be up to you.

I think, for #3, you should have only samples. Make sure you fully research copyright laws in doing this, to make sure people can't steal what you put up. I would also include some sort of watermark, possibly your own voice or a voice actor speaking over the track explaining the mood and style or giving the name. That way, if an AGSer came along and said "I like that music! I want to put it in my game!" they couldn't until notifying you and having you give them the unedited copy...

Newsletter: see what happens. We used to have a newsletter at our site, but we ran out of things to say, which aggravated our faithful readers to hell and back.

Everyone has a news section, even the most professional of professionals. Pick a company, randomly. Go to their site. Voila, news section. Much better than a newsletter.

Links: why not.

Purpose of a links section is so people can get a better feel of what you do by showing them similar stuff. For example, when writing a query for a book, you have to tell the publisher what other types of books out there are like yours. If you try to sell it as being "new and original" they aren't going to want it. Same with your music. A links section also helps you share links that you enjoy with others, so they can get a feel for who you are. My website is about occult and paranormal investigation, and yet I think we have a link on there somewhere to www.homestarrunner.com. Ã,  Go fig... Lets people get to know you a bit more personally. When they feel they know you, they might get to enjoy your work that much more...


Hope this helped.

[Nikolas]

Well, first off, for God's sakes, DON'T call it "Nikolass.." Ã, 

I never thought of that, what do you know?

[jetxl]

1.Whats in a name. Would the Bloodhound Gang rock less if they would be called Puppy Club?

2. You're thinking of an actors portfolio. Faces are important for (pop)artists, but not for composers. Are you sure that you want a picture? That guy from the Chemical Brothers doesn't even have all his front teeth. That's why you only see a few shots of him in the video clips.

3. WHOLE PIECES! It's hard enough to judge an musician by a demo and you want to cut the songs even shorter? Also, do you really think someone would put a 30 second sample in his winamp playlist? Don't put too much songs on the site (5 is enough), but make them whole songs, even if they are 15 minutes long.

4. No newsletter, just update your site once in a while.

5. Do you think it's news worthy and related to your profession?

6. Make a map called misc., junk or games.

7. To pimp other sites! Also to show your intrests/relations (if you like me, you also might like this).

[Exorph]

About the samples/full songs question, I think you have to consider that to most struggling artists having their music spread in any shape or form is just free advertising.
Especially if you're planning on composing music for other people, because then you won't earn money from the pieces you put on your site anyway..

Just a thought..
But keep in mind that I have strong anti-copyright opinions too, so..

[The Scorposer]

1. The name: I think, when you're this serious about a career in composing, you'd better not use a nickname (although I think it won't be that much of a problem, but still). You could shorten your first name to 'Nik' to make it easy to remember ('Nik Sideris')?

2. Should I have a picture of me, or not? Should it be colored or B&W? I don't think using your picture will be that much of a problem, but whether it should be black & white or color totally depends on the overall web design. Also, if you're not that good in web design, but do want to look professional hire someone to do it for you! You never get a second chance on a first impression!

3. I'm going to have samples of my works in the site. Should the samples be the whole pieces, or only fragments of the works? I say whole pieces, too. You could, however, convert them into a lower bitrate (128-160 Kbit) so people won't be able to use them that easily without your permission.

4. I think that a newsletter is out of the question, since I'm not yet established and I wouldn't know what to put in. Or should I have one? Better not, at first. Maybe, later on when business is booming, you've got enough interesting things to put into a (say monthly) newsletter. But this is totally up to you, of course.

5. Is it appropriate to have in the News section, news about a finished game from AGS? or it seems a bit lame? I say; use these games in your portfolio. Put them in with your other projects/assignments. Just make sure it has a professional feel when you present them.

6. Should there be a Links section or not? Combine this with the samples in your portfolio (put them in there). That way, people can check out the game/documentary right away when they're curious.

Hope that helps..

[Das Plans]

Hi there. Here's my thoughts. Hope I don't just repeat, what too many people before me have said.

Links section:
Definetly! Link to dozens of sites, which are somehow related to the topic of your own webpage! By doing this, you move up your site in the page ranking, when it's being looked for with search engines like google. Those search engines work in a way, that, if you search for the word "adventure", they prefer those sites, which don't only have the word "adventure" featured in their own texts, but which also link to sites, which are "adventure"-related.
Even better for your ranking would be, if other related sites would link to yours, too.
There are more ways, to improve the search engine ranking, but linking related sites is, as I would see it, a must do!

Name:
Don't use a nick. Use your real name... or this Nik-thing. I liked that. Dang, it's hard to avoid a nick-Nik-pun here... Speaking of which - I would advise against Nikolass.com. No good. Nosirree.

Picture:
Sure, why not? Marco Beltrami (the movie composer) has a picture of himself somewhere on his website. So why wouldn't you? Seriously. Ilike to see a pic of the people I'm reading about. And for occasions like this, I always prefer B&W shots. But that's just me.

Newsletter:
Not yet. Wait a while. Watch, how the monthly, weekly and daily visits progress. Then, when you have a bunch of regulars, think about a service like a newsletter.
And as long as we're up to it: I don't know how other people feel about this gimmick. But, personally, I would also advise against a guestbook. Look at sites of serious composers - those people don't have guestbooks. Nobody's interested in reading stuff like: "Oh, Mr. John Williams, I listened to the Star Wars soundtrack yesterday, and it's so friggin' great. Just wanted to let you know. Signed, a fan." Certainly, it's great for you to read a compliment like this, but you don't have this website for your own entertainment, but for the visitor's. Just wanted to say this. I don't know if you're even considering a guestbook.

News section:
The most important thing about a news section is, that you keep it running. Nothing's a bigger turn-off, than seeing a post from months ago proclaimed as news.
And again, if in this section, you tell people about things which are related to the topic of your site, you show interest and devotion to what you're doing. This leaves a good impression with the visitor, and, as stated before, with the search engines. So, post a new AGS game if you think it's worth mentioning. Because this is your thing. AGS, games, composing for games and stuff. Post music related news, adventure related news, composer related news (Jerry Goldsmith's demise, Oscar nomination for composer Whatshisname, and so on), whatever you can think of.

Demo songs:
Hum, I don't know what actually IS best. But I would prefer whole songs in medium quality - like a 128 mp3.

[Gregjazz]

As far as professionalism, using your real name would be best... I always have a hard time explaining online nicknames.

I like B&W photos on websites rather than color. I don't know what it is. B&W is just cooler I guess.

[Igor]

Just one piece of advice: if this will be your portfolio.. use it for music only and nothing else. Do NOT mix in your other activities (ags games, etc.)!

You can make separate hompage just for your hobbies.. but never put those in your portfolio.. not only it will confuse the visitors and potential clients, but it will also give your homepage very free-time, i-make-this-just-for-fun feel.. and you don't want that.

another thing- it's not about quantity but quality. I know.. it's hard to make selection and to sacrifice some work you might like. But as the bottom line, it's better to have 3 killer demo samples.. than 20 average ones. Be VERY selective. Sometimes it's even good to not use some piece of work, you might be proud of, if you know you wouldn't enjoy producing more in such style. The work you put up, must be you.

about name- use your real one.

[Nikolas]

Not really usefull to the critic but:

THANK YOU EVERYONE.

Anyone else is welcome to say anything they want on the subject.